Ahhh... I told you I’d read the
novel by the end of July and we’ve still got a few days to go.
Firstly I’m going to start off
with my story behind buying Truman Capote’s Breakfast
at Tiffany’s (1958 [2011]). So I bought this novella at the beginning of
the year, I think most students buy their books for their courses online, and
at the beginning of the year I became a little fed up with online shopping and
really just wanted to go into a bookstore, browse and of course only buy the
books on my reading list. So there I was in Waterstones, enjoying the
atmosphere and calm ambience of the store, looking for Angela Carter’s ‘The Magic Toyshop’ (I ended up paying a
little more for an amazing cover, it was worth it). I found the book but I couldn’t
reach it as it was on the top shelf! There was a taller lady (not hard to be)
not too far from me, I thought I’ll wait until she gets a little closer and I’ll
ask if she can get it down. So as I waited I continued to look, and the book
that caught my eye was Breakfast at
Tiffany’s... and I instantly fell in love with the cover (thanks to Methane
Studios) and didn’t want to put it down even though I knew it wasn’t on my
reading list. The lady approached and I asked if she would get The Magic Toyshop off the shelf for me,
which she kindly did and told me about her PhD on Carter. A truly bizarre and
interesting experience... So to end my story I bought the book I needed and Breakfast at Tiffany’s – I think we’re
all allowed some indulgence! ...p.s Carter will feature on the blog very soon.
Now on to the review. I haven’t
outlined the complete plot here as I feel I shouldn’t give any huge spoilers
for those who may want to read or watch Tiffany’s.
I read Breakfast at Tiffany’s in the
space of a few hours, a novella and therefore it was easy to read and remember.
I have watched the film so many times that I sort of knew the plot even though
most books and the film version of them are never exactly the same; I found
this to be true of Tiffany’s, but enjoyed them both. The novella is about a
young woman called Holly Golightly, it’s all in the name, she’s a twenty year
old who lives a life which is very transient and full of glamour. The novella
is narrated by one of Holly’s old neighbours who had both hated and loved Holly
when he knew her, he is called back to the neighbourhood years later by a
bartender who also was in love with Holly after hearing about her ‘travels’ in
Africa, the narrator (a writer) revisits his memories of this ‘most amazing
person’ (p65).
Holly is quite a complex
character, allusive about her past until a blast from the past turns up and
spills the beans on her marriage as a 14 year old. She ran away as this was not
the life she wanted, she wanted an easy life a luxurious life, away from her
sordid insecure childhood. The song the narrator recalls her singing a song
which sums up her character and what she wanted in her life ‘Don’t wanna sleep,
Don’t wanna die, just wanna go a-travellin’ through the pastures of the sky’ (p58).
Her dream of wanting to belong and feel settled all comes down to the feeling
she gets whenever she enters Tiffany & co, hence the title. ‘Fred’ (isn’t the
narrators name, but she called him Fred because he reminded her of her brother
Fred) manages to encapsulate all of this in a really beautiful and poignant way
at the end of the novella. Holly and a no named cat lived in the same apartment
but didn’t belong together; they were simply two independents waiting to find somewhere
where they belonged. Fred spots the cat
in a house and ‘wondered what his name was, for I was certain he had one now,
certain he’d arrived somewhere he belonged. African hut or whatever, I hope
Holly has, too’ (p98).
One of my favourite parts of the
novella was when the narrator follows Holly into a public library and watches
her from afar. Somehow he is reminded of a girl he knew at school called
Mildred and how she is/was the complete antithesis of Holly...‘the one had
splurged herself into a top-heavy realist, the other a lopsided
romantic...Mildred still studying the menu for its nutritional values, Holly still
gluttonous for everything on it’ (p52). It was at this point that I really fell
in love with Ms Golightly!
I think the difference between
the film and book is that the film really does exude the glamour of the novella
and that’s why it is such an icon. I feel the book in comparison allows the
reader to question issues of identity in so many ways, Holly, the no-named cat,
the no-named narrator. At the end of the novella I really felt a sense of the
short periods of time we experience, that are so significant at the time, but
within a blink of the eye they’re gone. Holly’s life was transient and to come
from a dire childhood to becoming the ‘It Girl’ of New York and to get caught
up in drug smuggling (without realising it of course) just goes to show the ‘transient
nature of life’. I loved this novel (and
the cover) and it made me think there are so many ways to read this classic. I
really wish Breakfast at Tiffany’s
had been on the reading list... I think I may have been able to write a pretty good essay on it :)
Here's A.Carter's The Magic Toyshop... Amazing cover ;)
References
Truman.C (2011) [1958] Breakfast at Tiffany's. Penguin: London
Carter.A (1981)[1967] The Magic Toyshop. Virago Press: London
